All the mistakes I made I made because
I didn't know myself very well
And by this stage I feel like I really shouldn't know myself
I'm forced into a sponsored silence
Where I'm only paid if I don't say
What I want to say

Open up your eyes and see
I can't throw it all away
Open up your eyes and see
I can't give it all away

I couldn't even care what you say
Change
You change everything
Blame it on your obvious ways

I gamble my praises
And throw the jukebox from my favorite phrases
As we cling to the nightclub walls
We whisper the words

We whisper them wrong
So we screamed out the wrong words
Into our own song
And with a kiss that tasted like drugs
Which taste like we'll never ever make it home

Open up your arms and say
I can't throw it all away
Open up your arms and say
I can't give it all away

I couldn't even care what you say
Change
You change everything
Blame it on your obvious ways

Throw me around
First you've got to count me down
Don't you think you should count me down before you throw me around
You throw me into another move I can't remake

It changes everything
Open up your arms and say
Give it all away
I couldn't even care what you say

4 Comments

General CommentSo far this has to be my favorite track on the new album. The second guitarist really adds to their sound, and here it shines.

As with most of the rest of the new CD however, the lyrics seem to be drifting more toward ambiguity. Sort of the polar opposite of 100 broken windows in that regard, which is in my humble opinion their best work, but perhaps Mr. Woomble is being fecitious.

General CommentI love this song, along with many others on the new album but i think this is my fav.. "i couldn't even care what you say, you change everything" tis great! i can't figure the hell what its about though! any ideas?

General CommentI'm surprised no one has tried to take a crack at this one...

To me, the meaning is pretty simple. I'll take it apart piece by piece :)

"All the mistakes I made I made because
I didn't know myself very well
and by this stage I feel like I really shouldn't know myself"

He's admitting that he's made mistakes in the past, due to being young, naive, and not knowing himself well enough.

"I'm forced into a sponsored silence
where I'm only paid if I don't say
what I want to say"

I think this line speaks for itself- which is something he can't do. He can't say what he really feels (oppression from a record label? the music industry as a whole? the public in general who might not agree with his views?) If he's a "good dog" and only sings and says what he's told, what the radio stations want to hear, he'll get paid.

"Open up your arms and say
I can't throw it all away...
I couldn't even care what you say"

Despite how trapped he feels not being able to speak his mind, he's become accustomed to the lifestyle, and it's not as simple as just walking away from it all on principle. "I couldn't even care what you say" seems to hint that he's getting some kind of criticism for not standing up for what he believes in, but he doesn't care. He's tired of hearing it. He -knows- already.

"change, you change everyday, and blame it on your obvious ways" - I think this is what the other person (the one doing the criticizing) is saying to him. He changes as he's told to change, and always makes excuses or blames something else for his own inability to stand up and take charge of the situation.

"I gamble my praises
and fill the jukebox with my favorite phrases"

It sounds like in the second verse, he's coming to know himself more, and is willing to gamble the "praises" of those who pay him and is now singing what he wants to sing (filling the jukebox with HIS favorite phrases)

"as we cling to the nightclub walls
we whisper the words
we whisper them wrong
so we screamed out the wrong words
into our own song"

In a night club, he begins singing, at first just a whisper, the "wrong" words to the songs. But soon he's screaming out, tired of keeping quiet, and finally making the songs his own, instead of what will please someone else.

"and with a kiss that tasted like drugs
which tastes like we'll never, ever make it home"

I think the kiss here could be either a literal kiss, or a figurative one. A kiss that tasted like drugs- an intoxicating feeling. This is how it feels for him to finally be able to say what he wants, and he knows he'll never be able to go back to the way he was before.